Angel Tree Gift 2009

The Angel Tree that I have chosen my tags from the past two years is near my Metro stop. It was set out a couple weeks earlier in November than the previous year. But I wasn’t sure if I was going to take a tag. My office decided this year to participate in the Angel Tree. The main reason I chose two tags last year was to compensate for the lack of giving on the part of my office.

My office’s administration budgeted $500 this year and hoped to gift at least 6 children. That’s $80 per child! I couldn’t compete with that, and I started to think I should just volunteer to shop for the office’s Angel gifts. That would cost zero dollars for me!

Then after my local tree was set out for a week, there were two tags left on it. I made a deal with myself that if they were still there at the end of the weekend, I’d take one.

This is how I ended up shopping for a 9-year-old boy on Black Friday inside the Target in FloMo.

I wanted to spend less than $50 on the gift, and it needed to be portable back to D.C. in my suitcase. Therefore, the basketball and football my Dad picked out were not options. Yet, still good suggestions.

After spending 30+ minutes in the toy aisle at Target, the following ideas were rejected:

– a Bop It!– Apples to Apples– Bakugan

I finally bought the $20 Lego set because Mum witnessed a little boy about 9-years-old begging his mother to buy it for him that instant. We assumed it was a pretty popular gift. It’s hottness only increased when the Boyfriend and Bradley’s friends all announced they’d love Star Wars Legos themselves and that boy would be so lucky!

Mum found the Transformers sleep pants. We sized up, and the best part was that they rang up at 50% off. Bradley helped me choose the gloves. Lastly, the t-shirt was included since it was only $3 and the most school appropriate (i.e. sans skulls and flames) shirt on the rack.